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wild lurch of our ship as it was freed had thrown him into the black waters. He was
helplessly sinking, weighted down by his heavy mail coat. Instantly I tore off my
own mail coat, flung it away, and dived from the back rail into the sea. The icy
shock of waters smashed the breath from my body. As my head broke the surface,
I saw the battle that had been carried onward hundreds of yards. The Jotun ships
were trying to get their grapples on the Aesir craft again. But the Aesir warriors were
dismayed by the stunning of Thor and the loss of Frey. They had swung their ship
around and were fleeing back toward Asgard.
I trod water amid the surging waves, looking for Frey. When I glimpsed him
going down again, a dozen yards from me, I battled the raving wind and crashing sea
until I reached his side. Diving deep, I caught him and pulled him to the surface. It
was almost more than I could do to keep him afloat, weighed down as he was by his
mail and sword. Now I began to regret taking along my own sword, for it was
hampering me. The waves were running mountainously, bearing us in toward the
looming cliffs that bulked ominously close.
"Leave me!" Frey choked above the roar of the sea. "Save yourself, Jarl Keith 
or we'll both perish."
"Cling to my shoulder  kick hard with your feet," I panted.
His weight threatened to drag me under at any moment. I fought to swim away
from the cliffs, but I was like a child in the relentless grip of those great waves.
Then I glimpsed a little beach that indented the cliffs. I recognized it at once. It
was the beach where I had landed my plane!
"This way!" I cried to Frey. "We'll be shattered on the cliffs unless we can get to
that beach."
The breakers threatened to drag us north of the little sandy indentation. I put my
last ounce of strength into swimming obliquely across the thunderous waves. But
those boiling breakers carried us resistlessly toward the looming cliff. We were
going to be flung against it
I yelled to Frey and made a convulsive effort. We barely cleared the cliffs, and
were washed up to safety on the beach!
Chapter VIII
World of Gnomes
For some minutes we lay on the sand. Though the roaring waves broke over us,
neither of us was able to move. Gradually our strength returned, and we dragged
ourselves farther up the beach. Frey sat up and panted a question.
"Was Thor slain? I saw him fall as I was hurled into the sea."
"He was only stunned, I think. The men of your ship got it free and fled back
toward Asgard."
"I owe you my life, Jarl Keith." Frey's voice throbbed in the darkness. "I was
sinking in the waves when you leaped after me. I'll not forget that debt."
I staggered to my feet.
"It's more important that we go after those Jotuns, and rescue Freya and the key."
"By now," muttered the Aesir noble hopelessly, "they must be near Jotunheim.
We couldn't overtake them even if we had a ship."
"I can overtake them in a few minutes," I said grimly. "You Aesir may know a lot
about atomic fires and subtle forces, but you don't know airplanes. Mine is moored
right on this beach."
"Your flying ship?" he gasped. "I had forgotten about it. Is it swift enough to
overtake the Jotun ships?"
"Swift enough?" I repeated. "Wait till you get in it. Maybe it'll make you think a
little more highly of my science!"
I hastened toward the two great boulders between which I had moored my plane.
It was gone! The tracks in the sand showed that it had been dragged down to the
water.
"Someone's stolen my ship!" I groaned.
"The Jotuns must have done it. Whoever sent them to kill or capture you, Jarl
Keith, sent other warriors later to seize your flying ship."
"They must have dragged it down and pulled it aboard one of their biggest ships,"
I muttered. "Now we don't have a chance of overtaking Freya's captors before they
reach Jotunheim."
"Aye, I fear that all is lost," Frey sighed, "Now that the Jotuns have Freya and the
rune key, the Jotun king Utgar will hasten to release Loki from his prison-cave. And
once Loki is free and conspiring again with the Jotuns, it will be doom for all Asgard
and the Aesir."
My natural inclination was to hasten by the fastest method to Jotunheim, in an
attempt to rescue Freya. But I realized that I owed my first duty to the cause of all
the Aesir. It was I who had unwittingly brought the rune key that might loose Loki
on them.
"Frey, tell me. Where and how far from here is the cave in which Loki is held
prisoner?"
"It is miles to the south, deep in the labyrinth of caves that lie under Midgard," he
said bewilderedly. "Why do you ask?"
"If you and I hurried to the door of Loki's prison and waited there," I explained
eagerly, "we could be there when the Jotun king came to release Loki. We could
strike Utgar down and take back the key before he could release that devil. And
then, with the key safe, we could find a way to get Freya out of Jotunheim."
Frey was startled by the boldness of my plan.
"It is a daring scheme," he breathed, "and I do not crave to go near Loki. Yet it
might succeed. It might prevent his escape."
"How can we get to that prison-cave before the Jotuns get there with the rune
key?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]